Supernatural: Paranormal
by icypinkroses
Summary: Sequel to Supernatural. Even when viciously ripped apart, they still find their way to each other.
1. Chapter 1

Ello, Ello!

Well you can all thank xxxkid, is what I think your name is. Here you go. Here is the sequel to Supernatural. I hope you enjoy it. I don't think that I did all that great a job on this chapter. But I promise you that I will go back and reread Supernatural so that it flows accordingly.

For those of you that didn't read Supernatural. I would suggest reading it so that if you're confused **about anything, you won't be. I don't know why this is being bolded, my computer is obviously being a douche. These words are not important. **

**Anyway. Updates for this story will be, in a word, sporadic. Sorry in advance. **

**Please read, Review and Enjoy!**

* * *

He can feel her. He can smell her, breathing in her essence. She's smiling. Her smile is beautiful and it lights up the enitre space. She's a supernova when she's smiling.

Softly, she trails her hands over his skin lightly, making him tingle all over. He feels warm and happy. Something that has not been with him for a while. She encases him in her arms, wrapping herself around him.

Love. It's the single word that describes this feeling. Love. He loves her. He's always loved her, even before he existed, even before she existed. It is as though they were created specifically for eachother and no one else. She can only be his, and vice versa. They will never belong to another, and as cheesey as that might sound, it is the truth.

His lips turn up into a smile when he feel his lips, as light as a ghost, fall upon his neck. Morning kisses, is what he likes to think of them as.

He reaches up to grab her arm and it's like a jolt of electricty coursing through his viens. His eyes snap open into the bleak darkness of his empty room.

He is utterly and completely alone.

Like he has been for the past 9 months.

Orihime left him 9 months ago, although he knows it. His heart does not seems to undersrtand. And him mind seems to enjoy playing cruel tricks on him.

He gasps, struggling for a breath of air as the loss of her takes its toll on him. He feel his heart breaks all over again, the pain of it overwhelming him. He struggles out of his bed on to the cold hard floor on to his knees as he struggles to breathe.

After a few painful moments, he is fine. His breath is more even and sweet relief of air flows into his lungs and his eyes water.

This doesn't happen often. But when he let down his defenses and allow himself to think about her at night, in the morning, he becomes confused and feels as though she is here with him.

But she never is.

He hates himself for the weakness, and he would do anything to wake up in the morning and nearly choke on the memory of falling asleep with her in his arms, and waking up without her.

It makes him feel…weak. It's been 8 months already. Why does it still hurt this much? He's been trying so hard to forget her. To erase her from his mind and from his heart. To move on. She left him. It's not like she died, or he left her. She choose, on her own, to leave him.

She broke his heart. He's hurting like he never knew he could hurt before. More than a yokai stabbing him in his stomach. More than him fighting his inner demon. More than her mother crushing his internal organs with the sheer power of her will.

They were together for over 6 years. He shared things with her that he hasn't shared with anyone. She fought away his nightmares, she made him feel so strong, like he could overcome anything. She was his strenght.

Or atleast, she was his strenght.

He picks himself up off the floor, detangling the covers from around his legs. He makes his way to the bathroom, shutting her out of his mind as best as he could. However, in was in his mind where she lingered.

He turns on the water in the shower on as hot as it would go. Stripping, he stepped into the blistering hot water and sighed as the memory of her was washed away, turning his peach skin red.

He scrubbed himself down, washing away her ghostly touches and kisses. He closed his eyes and instantly he could feel her hands all over his body once more, holding on to him tightly as if she never wanted to let him go. It was only natural for him to be huanted by her presence in the shower. There were so many memories of them together, of her.

When he couldn't take anymore of the self inflicted torture, he exits the shower and dons a clean pair of dark jeans and a black t-shirt. He pushes his hair, which he still hadn't cut since the last time that she was with him. Pushing his hair back was futile, since it fell into his eyes. Howerver, it was something comforting about the motion in which he found himself doing when he was feeling stressed, or thinking about her. Or when he would think about his friends, Yumichika and Ikaku and how he would never see them again.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his sword and headed out into the night.

He quit The Organization. After the stuff that went down with Orihime, Gramps, and her mother, there was just no point. Besides, they didn't trust him and he didn't trust them. So he went out every night and fought random yokais he found on the street. If he was lucky, he would come across a very powerful one that would actually give him a real workout. And when he wasn't in the street fighting yokai, he was in the areana, fighting for money.

Now that he was no longer a part of The Organization, he no longer needed to work at the menial gaming design game that he hated so much. However, he still needed a means of money and it was something that he stumbled across.

* * *

_6 months prior_

_Ichigo stumbles around the darkness blindly, he was drunk off of some really potent rice wine, or prehaps it was vodlka, he couldn't quite remember, niether did he care all that much. As long as it held thoughts of her at bay, he was fine. _

_He knocks into a fellow that is quite burley. He mumbles an aplology and continues on his way. However, the man obviously had something to prove and saw Ichigo as an easy, druken target. _

"_Hey, asshole! Watch where the fuck you are going, before I beat your fucking head in!" he swore violently. Ichigo ignores him and contiunes on his way, barely having heard the man in the first place. _

"_Did you hear what I said dip shit?You owe me a fucking apology!" He bellows loud enough for the people waiting egarly across the street to get in to a happening club to hear him. Many turned their attention to the behemoth of a man. That only serve to add fuel to the fire that was already burning brightly inside the man. _

_Ichigo once again, ignores the man and it's the final straw. The man storms to Ichigo, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder. Reacting on pure reflex alone, Ichigo grabs the man's thick arm, and twists it at an unnatural angle. The sickening sound of bone snaping is heard clear across the street. However, it's not as loud as the man's bone chilling cry of pain. _

_Not stopping at just breaking his arm, Ichigo spins and lands his elbow square into the man's nose, blood squirting out as the soft cartelige is crushed. The man howls again, the sound pericing through the night. _

_Ichigo releases the man in a crumpled heap on the ground and contiunes about his way, sadly, a more sober than he wanted to be. _

_However, a man, the owner of the happening club across the street, sees the exchange between the two characters and becomes instantly intrested in Ichigo and wonders if he would be a good additon to his underground fight club. _

_The next night, the club owner is waiting patiently outside of he bar in which he saw the oragne-haired man leave and sure enough, he walks languidly towards the bar, completely shutting the world out. _

_He was perfect for the line of work that he had in store for him. A man that has nothing to lose because he already lost everything. He makes his way to Ichigo, not sure about how to get his attention. If he touched him he could end up like the poor sod last night. However, its obvious that he wasn't going to talk to him if he just called out. _

_Ichigo makes it to the bar. He makes his way to the booth that has become his second home in the past 2 months and he nestles in, waiting for the bartender to bring his starting pitcher. _

_A short man with little to no hair comes into his booth with a pitcher of beer and two mugs. Ichigo looks at him with dead eyes and no expression. _

"_Ohayo, I'm Cyrus. Can I pour you a glass?" he offers, already pouring a pint and handing it to him. Ichigo just stares at the man, not sure what to make of him, hoping that he will just go away on his own. _

"_Listen kid, I saw what you did to that big fellow, the other day and I have to say that I'm impressed. Very much so. You took him down within seconds. It was beautiful, truly, a beautiful sight."_

_Ichigo just stares at the man. He has ablsoulutely no idea what he's talking about. Lately he's been getting into so many fights, it doesn't matter who he person is or what they are. They all blend together is a blur of activity that he doesn't spend too much time mulling over. _

"_Listen man, whatever you're selling, I'm not buying. Take your beer and get out of my face." Ichigo growls lowly. _

_The man raises his hands in defense and leans back. "Cool it man, all I'm saying is that you have a really nice talent there. It's very useful in my line of work and I was wondering if you could be intrested, that's all. You don't see too many people with your fighting skills is all I'm saying." _

_Having grown irritated with the man, Ichigo allows his power to build up and he feels it coating him as his teeth and nails elongate and sharpen, and his hair grows longer and turns a shade lighter. _

_The man eyes widens, and leans further back into his seat. _

"_I'm not human." He says, his voice disorted and shaky. "If you don't want me to eat your fucking heart out. I suggeest you get as fartest away from me as fast as you possibly can, before I chage my mind." _

_Instead of being frighten, the man is only more excited. "Shit, you're even better than I could've a hope. You're a fucking yokai!" He whispered excitedly. Ichigo scowls at the man, ready to rip him a new asshole. The man notices Ichigo's state of fury and calms down. _

"_Listen. I'm have this little club beneath my own club. It's somewhere for humans and yokai alike to go down there and get a little relief through a little thing called fighting. And it's not that whole pussy shit that you see on the movies, it's none of that. It's secrective, and you make atleast 500 a fight. And that's if you lose. If you win, it's 1500. And you, you look like a winner." _

"_I'm leaving." Ichigo stands abruptly, pissed beyond all reason that he would have to find another place to drown his sorrows. _

"_Fine, don't take it, don't even finish listening to what I have to say. You can go back to your little whole in the wall, and contiue to drink until you can forget whatever you're trying to forget. We'll see if you'll still be playing that little tune that you're going on about after you drink all the money that you have left and you need a place to stay and a new way of making money to buy alcohol." He calls out to him. He recognized him. He sees guys like him all of the time. They have nothing to lose, because everything they had, is already lost to them. _

_And surely, he was right. His words registered with Ichigo, and for a moment, he actually thought about his future. Something that he's been putting off, because for so long, his future was with a girl so beautiful, she was painful to look at, who had broke his heart to the point of his distruction. Without her in his life, he was certain that he had no furture, even more so that he didn't want one. _

_However, he didn't want to be without alcohol. So he would need money, atleast to keep that flowing. _

_Abruptly, he turns around and storms back to his booth in which the little, balding man resides. _

"_These fights, when and where do they happen?" _

"_Across the street, at 12. Go to the bar ask for me." _

"_Is tha all?" Ichigo asks. _

"_That's all." _

"_Then get out of my fucking booth, before I rip your throat out." _

_Cyrus throws his head back and laughs loudly. Calming down, he nods his head and gets up, he turns towards the bartender. _

"_Hey, everything that this man right here orders. Put it on my tab." And with that, he leaves the bar, leaving Ichigo to sulk in his own misery. _

_oOo_

* * *

_A few days later Ichigo had struggled with himself enough to decide to go to the club and check it out. It was a relief to struggle with something else other than if it was worth getting up in the morning, if she was really gone, or maybe just in the shower, or down stairs. _

_It was a relief not to be so pathetic. _

_So when he found himself outside the club, he swallowed his pride and went in. he hasn' been to a club since that night…that night that seems so far away, _

_But he wouldn't mull over it. He would see what that man was about. He would see if he could make a few bucks tonight and he would be done with it. His curiosity sated and he would put tha whole mess behind him. _

But after the first fight, he won. Cyrus handed the 1500, however, he didn't leave. For a first time in a long time, he didn't think about her, she didn't consume his life, and he didn't have to drink to forget about her.

The rush of adrenaline that pumpped viciously through his viens during the fight was addictive. While he was fighting, he was soley focused on the fight, solely focused on winning.

He started back exercising, weight training and discipline. He was drunk less and sober more. He went back to hunting yokai, though on his own, without the help or any information. Regardless, he found them, and he killed them. His life has become an endless cycle of fighting. He was a well oiled machine in arena, and a beast on the darken streets at night.

He couldn't stop the thoughts of her that came unbidden into his mind, that crept into his thoughts and assulted him, confusing him and making him suffer heartbreak all over. However, he felt that he was doing better. He felt that he could finally move on, without her in his life, he will live.

He would forever be broken. There isn't anything that could fix him. A large chunk of him is missing. Gone away from him, far, far away to a place where he can't find, a place where he can't reach.

He will always miss that piece of him.

But he's done living in misery, in depression. He refuses to give anymore to that beast that stole so much from him.

It didn't stop it from taking whatever it wanted from him, at times when he was vulnerable.

It didn't mean that his constant everyday life wasn't bathe in a dreay grey, but it did mean that he wasn't going to be weak anymore.

oOo

* * *

She watches him from far away, leaving the home that has become unkempt and seemingy empty.

His hair has grown longer.

She likes that. She's always liked his short spiky hair that was surprisingly soft when she ran her hands through it. He loved it when she would softly scrap her nails against his scalp.

It's been a full year since the events in which set that seperation in motion happened.

She wonders if he knows this.

If he cares.

They've been apart for so long.

He's doing things that are hurting him. He cannot see it, but she can. When she is able to, she watches him. She cannot help herself. She is connected to him, although she severed his connection to her, she kept hers to him. She refuses to release, she cannot. She loves him. She loves him too much and far too deeply.

It pains her to see him in such a destructive state.

The endless fighting and drinking. He rarely eats, and he sleeps most of the day away so that he can fight. When he's not fighting or sleeping or drinking, he's exercising.

She knows that he deluded himself to thinking that he's doing better, but he's not. He's just trading one vice for another and she knows that it is all of her fault. She's done this to him. She allowed him to become this way. He's a shell of his former self. It's as if the man that she knew and fallen in love with no longer existed.

He's only one step away from being those yokai that lives purely on instinct. No feelings, no emotions. He's a macanical being.

She misses his rare smile more than anything. She would give her life to see it once more.

She turns away from him, unable to take the pain of watching him. She's back in the castle. Back in her prison from which she cannot leave. Not that she would want to. How can she go back?

She attacked her sisters, killed members of The Organization, killed his friends, her friends.

The worst thing she's done though, was killing the very piece of him that made him who he was. She destroyed him and that is unforgivable.

She walks to her overized canopy bed that was draped in blood red covers and drapes edged with gold trim. Theres a fire lit in the center of the room, the flickering flames making everything's shadow dance seductivily.

Her heart caves in on itself as it normaly does when she watches him and realizes that she can never be close to him again.

She brings her fist to her chest and presses against it tightly, trying to capture her breath which has escaped her.

Her door swings open and a large gush of wind sweeps through the room, killing the fire, the whole room becomes bathe in darkness and cold.

Her mother stand at the door, the look of pity and disgust clear on her face. She knows what her daughter has been up to. She knows her secrect obession of looking over her lost love.

"I've told you that if you were to do it again. I would make you suffer."

"How can I suffer more that what I already am?"

"My dear sweetheart, there are plenty of ways. I'm only trying to help you. It's been months and you can barely conjur a fire. It's because you're still holding on to him that you're not able to do more."

"Really? I thought it was because a caged birds are normally unable to fly."

"Do not give me that. Remember, you came to me of your own volition, I did not force you."

"My greatest mistake." She whispers to herself. Her mother's keen ears hears her.

"My dear I'm sure that you have plenty of other great mistakes in your life." She looks at her daughter, drawing her into herself, making her remember her every mistake.

Absorbing Ichigo's power, not going to help when she needed, killing her brother.

She faces them bravely, knowing that if she caved to them, her mother would only be triumphant. Her mother smiles, slightly proud that she has the gall to stand up to her. There were so few who did, and they were normally dealt with.

"Are you one day going to show me somehting that I don't know? I know that I am weak and that my mistakes have caused those around me, even me great pain. You cannot hold that against me anymore."

"I am not holding it against you, I'm trying to get you to use their pain as strenght."

She looks away from her mother, out the window of the blood red sky. She would leave this place if she could. She never wanted to see her mother again. She didn't know that she was capable of hate, but she is and she hates her mother. This entire town is filled with nothing but death and false happiness. If any one of her citizens becomes unhappy in any way, three black horses appears to them. The unhappy citizen is tied to the horses and they are drugged throughout the city to the city edges. And whatever remains of them is left on the edges. As a remainder that you cannot leave, that you cannot want to leave.

It's a horrible place to live. She's seen countless people die, or cower before her mother, their undeserving queen.

She wonders how so many people have come to this place. Why there are still citizens, living in this eternal hell.

Like a devious spider, she lures them with a beautiful paradise, and once they are ensnared in her web of deception, they are here forever.

She hears of sceram of pure, undulated torture ringing out, cutting clear through the silent night.

Someone has become unhappy.

It kills her to hear those cries, to know that there isn't anything that she can do to stop them. She looks to her mother.

"Please, have mercy." She begs of her, like she does everytime. "They have the right to live."

"Life is for those who know how to live. And mercy is for the weak."

"I am certain that someone showed you mercy once."

"They did." Her eyes becomes hard. Harder than they were before. "And now they are dead."


	2. Progress

Hi guys. Wow, it's been a while right. Well, Hopefully I can update more. He's a chapter that should set the story in motion. it may not make a lot of sense, but hey, theres a method to my madness. Isn't there always? Anywho

please read, review and as always, enjoy.

* * *

Ichigo pushes his hair back from his face.

"If it keeps getting in your way, why don't you cut it off princess?" The overly burley man sitting in front him rumbles. Ichigo only stares at the man. The man is wearing a dirty dingy white shirt. His greasy black hair hangs in poorly made braids from his head. His pants are equally dirty to his shirt and hangs loosely around his waist.

But to Ichigo this man is gray. He's gray like the dingy establishment which smells of sweat, blood and antiseptics. In the background, there is noise of grunts and flesh meeting flesh as the other occupants practice in pointless fights. They are pointless because when they are in the ring with Ichigo, all of their training, their practice…it all becomes irrelevant.

The only reason why he is here is because Cyrus wanted to talk to him. Otherwise, he practices at home.

He doesn't know why Cyrus has asked him to come. He is actually starting to regret coming here at all. Mingling with the competition is not his style. It never has been. He hopes that whatever Cyrus has called him here for is worth this splitting headache.

He hears Cyrus's familiar footfalls on the metal steps.

_Clank. Clank. Clank._

He looks up at the man. Behind him he sees a face that he wasn't expecting. He snarls.

"What the fuck is he doing here?"

Cyrus stops in his spot and looks from Ichigo to his companion.

"I've been looking for you you son of a bitch!" Renji states, balling his fists tightly at his side, barely containing his fury at his best friend.

"Do you two know each other?" Cyrus asks. He isn't heard. The two yokai stare each other. Each looking like their about to pounce on the other.

"You coming here was pointless. I'm not going back to The Organization, so don't even bother."

"What have you been doing with yourself?! You look like shit!"

"Its no concern of yours."

"You're my friend. I haven't seen you in months. I didn't know whether or not you were alive or eating well, or anything about you. I've been worried fucking sick about you and that's what you say to me?!"

"Leave. Now."

"Well wait one goddamn minute. Red here has agreed to fight my toughest guy. Now I see what he can do and well…this is too good of an opportunity to pass up."

"I'm not fighting him. Now either he leaves. Or I do."

"Be rational about this Ichigo," Cyrus tries to reason with him. "A fight between the two of you. Two…incredibly powerful yokai…that'll rake in some big bucks. Now I'll pay out the ass to see that."

"You heard me!"

"And you heard me!"

"Forget it. He's been out of training so long that he's afraid that hes lost his touch."

"Baiting me isn't going to work."

"You've been in isolation for so damn long, the only kind of fighting you can do is the underground stuff. I bet you're sloppy and slow."

"Shut up. I'm through talking to you." Ichigo pushes himself off the wall and walks away from the both of them.

"Even if she was to come back do you think that she would want you?"

Ichigo's blood turns to ice in his veins. All at once his heart stops beating and he stops breathing.

In less time it takes to blink an eye, he's upon Renji, holding him by the throat and pinning him to the wall. Renji doesn't flinch. Ichigo growls, however Renji keeps talking.

"You're pathetic and you're wasting away. Why would she want you when you're like this? Exactly what will she be coming back for?"

"Do. Not. Mention. Her. Again." He emphasizes each and every word slowly and clearly.

"Why? Does it make you feel something? Do you even care that she's gone? Have you even looked for her?"

"AAARHHHHHH!" Ichigo reels his fist back and releases it in Renji's face. Blood spatters from his nose and down his face; however the soft cartilage is already healing and fixing itself.

He can't help but be affected by his words. They break right past his defense and stab him right where it hurts. A pain that he's been poorly keeping buried. It was a pain that he was trying desperately trying to keep to himself, away from anyone else. These questions that have been circulating since she left.

He releases Renji and pushes away from him. He turns away from the two men, unable to deal with the emotions that are going through him right now.

"Why do you even want to fight? Why can't you just leave me alone."

"I want to have a bet with you."

"I told you that I'm not-"

"I heard you. But we-I need your help. Just training some new guys. Since Ikkaku and Yumichika died…and since you left and…there's a shortage of good fighters. Just help me train guys."

"I'm sorry that the organization is short on me. But that's not my problem."

"Just fight me for it. If you win, I'll forget that I ever saw you in this shit hole. I'll forget everything and you won't have to worry about me or The Organization ever again. But if I win…you have to at least…at least give it a try for one month."

Ichigo let this mull over in his mind. He didn't want to.

"Wow, wow now. If he goes off and plays mentor to some baby hunters, that means that he won't be able to fight for me? Sorry. That's a no go."

"I believe I gave the offer to Ichigo. Not you."

"Okay." Ichigo agrees to the offer with a sudden finality that ends the conversation. He will humor Renji. But only to get him back for making him re-experience the pain that he didn't want to. Only to prove to him that he hasn't lost his touch. That he can still kick his ass.

He will not lose.

.

.

.

Orihime concentrates as hard as she possibly can. She places all her strength into her power. A migraine forms along the outer edge of her mind. Her head begins to pound and her breath becomes short. She doesn't stop. She keeps pushing herself further and further.

"Come on already! You've been here for hours, trying to lift that damned feather. Just do it already. It's not that hard!"

"I'm trying. Please-"

"Oh don't beg me. That's pathetic. Almost as pathetic as watching trying and failing I might add, to lift a feather. Something that the wind can do, but oh, you cannot make wind either? Can you?"

Hopelessness fills Orihime. She can't do this. Why did she ever think that she could? This is pointless. All so darn hopeless! She can't do this. She just can't. Her mother is right. She is pathetic. She's hopeless. She can't do this. She just can't.

Suddenly. She feels a pang in her. A pang of wanting and longing. She knows its him. He wants to see her. He wants to know where she is. How she's doing. Because of her connection to him, she always knows what he is feeling, although he doesn't know what she's feeling.

She doesn't know the details. But she can feel his pain for her and she feels guilty. She feels like a terrible person. And although she wants to go to him she cannot. Her mother will not allow for her to leave and at her current state, it's not like she can defy her mother. She can't even lift a feather.

More hopelessness encases her. She's becoming more and more devoured by her depression. She's lost her powers. Most likely for good. She's nothing more than a simple human now. A human with a monster for a mother.

"I can't…I can't do this. I'm sorry." She apologizes.

"You are sorry. You're sorrier than your pathetic brother. Than your loser father. And you're even more pathetic than your beast of a husband. Oh that's right. You weren't even able to get married. And after you lost the child…tell me…what did she look like again?"

"STOP IT!" Orihime screams, covering her ears, unable to take the pain that came with her mothers words. They rang true, yet, laced with falseness. The ones she loves aren't pathetic. They're good people, with good hearts. They don't deserve for her to speak ill of them. They don't deserve it!

"You know, it's great that you lost the baby. What type of mother would you have been? You couldn't even take care of yourself, yet you expected to take care of another life? Between dumb and dumber the child would've grown up demented."

"I said stop!" Orihime stands, fed up with her mother. "How dare you talk down to me about how I would've raised my child?! I would've been a great mother. Not perfect but great. Ichigo would've been the best dad that there ever was. How would you even know what a good mother would be? You're a terrible mother. You're awful. You're literally, the worst kind of person. And if you think, that for even one second that I would believe that either Ichigo or I would've made bad parents, then you're more demented than I could have ever imagined because as long as I kept my child from you. As long as to them, you didn't exist…I would have been doing my job. I would have been keeping them from the greatest evil in the world."

"Words of flattery will get you nowhere dear."

"You are the only person in the world that I have ever hated."

"Oh I'm touched."

Rage replaces the feeling of hopelessness and despair. How dare her mother belittle her? She's trying. She really is. And what she said about her brother and her father….and Ichigo…

She will never forgive her for that.

Unbeknownst to her, the feather trembled. As her emotions swirled further and further out of her control, the feather trembled and shook, lifting into the air slightly before it combusted in flames.

Orihime eyes widen and her breath stopped.

Did she really just do that? Was she really able to…?

"I think the word you looking for is thank you." Her mother smiles, her blood red lips revealing a row of abnormally white teeth. Orihime looks back to where the feather once was. She can feel the remenants of her power flowing through her body. Its weak but its there.

Its there!

.

.

.

Ichigo grunts as Renji's fist connects with his face. His face snaps to the side and blood spills out of his mouth. Sweat plasters his long brightly colored hair to his face.

"Come on Carrot Top! You were talking a lot shit earlier today. Nearly had me shaking in my goddamn boots!"

Ichigo growls. He rushes to Renji and grabs him at his midsection, preparing to lift him. Renji laces his fingers together and comes down hard on Ichigo's back. He does so repeatedly until Ichigo crumples to the ground. He bends over and lifts Ichigo up and tosses him across the ring.

"I remember when you used to be one of the greats. You're slow and your hits are uncoordinated. I don't even know why I came to you to ask for your help with training the recruits. What are you going to teach them? How to lose a fight?"

He kicks Ichigo in his stomach, flipping him on his back. He raises his foot to stomp on him; however, Ichigo grasps it firmly in his hand.

"Shut…up…you bastard!" He crushes Renji's foot in his hand. Renji howls in pain. Ichigo quickly gets up and places his hand around Renji's throat and slams him into the ground. "I'm tired of hearing you speak!" he snarls as he crushes his windpipe. Dots of blackness dance behind Renji's eyes. He holds on to consciousness.

Renji roars as he gets Ichigo off him, he pounces on him, his fist flying, sometimes connecting with Ichigo, sometimes missing. He's struggling to breathe. He needs to end the fight before he passes out. He's only on the cusp of conciouness as it is.

He can see Ichigo struggle as well. He's swaying on his feet. Basically fighting blindly. He lauches towards him on his crushed foot, using the uninjured to kick him in his chest, using as much power behind it as possible. Ichigo flies across the room and lands in a heap on the ground.

Renji rushes to him before he can get up and gives him one final punch in his temple. Ichigo falls unconscious almost immediately. Renji falls to his knees, his breathing harsh and weak. He wheezes for a few moments, trying to gather his breath. That bastard really fucked over his windpipe. He'll have to make sure to make him pay for that.

Renji pushes his long red hair out of his bloody and marked up face. He gets back on his feet and grabs Ichigo by his hair, lifting him up. Grunting, he puts him on his shoulder, and makes his way towards the exit.

"Hey, hey, you can't just take him!" Cyrus demands. His best fighter, his number one attraction was being taken away from him. He couldn't just stand by and let that happen.

"A deal is a deal ass face."

"Yeah, but what if I don't like the results?" Cyrus folds his arms. Renji sighs and turns to face him. Three large Yokai's are backing him up. He really doesn't have the energy to fight him. Ichigo was really close to beating the shit out of him. He can barely walk and carry the bastard.

"Babe…a little help here?" he calls out.

_terra mater , dea vitae fac eas creaturas succumberet tua tenebras conscientiam_

One by one, the beings in the building fall down, unconscious. Renji smiles as his girlfriend appears besides him.

"Just when were you going to help me out?"

"I thought you had things under control." Rukia smiles.

"Yeah, I could tell from the way I was getting my ass beat."

"Oh so you admit that you're not the best?"

"Just take us to home. I can barely stand."

"Always the grumpy one." She teases before they are surrounded by golden smoke and begins to disappear. "But at least you got him, right?"

Renji nods, sparing a glance at the man on his shoulder. Maybe he'll finally get better.


	3. Casablanca

Hi guys. I'm back. I know. I know. I'm trying its getting harder and harder for me to write anything. I'm really trying. I promise I am. But enough of excuses. Please, read, review and enjoy.

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"I've heard that you've been getting better at your training. That's wonderful Hime-chan!" Orihime smiles at her best childhood friend, Tatsuki Arisawa. If there is one thing that is redeemable about her coming to stay with her mother, it would be Tatsuki. She hasn't seen her old friend since she left with her brother.

"Gomen Tatsuki, but you don't have to use honorifics with me. We're old friends; we know each other better than that." Tatsuki shakes her head enthusiastically. There's a bright red line around her neck. It's been there since she was a child. Tatsuki's mother was lured here when she was pregnant with Tatsuki. After she gave birth, she tried to escape with her new baby; however, Vera wasn't having that. She killed the poor woman on the spot and forced her child to grow up as her slave.

She and Orihime are the same age, so Orihime has basically known her, her entire life. When she left with her brother, she wanted nothing more than to take her with them. And then once more when she left with Ichigo. But every time Tatsuki stayed. Orihime couldn't understand why and Tatsuki would never explain. But why she would choose to stay here with a monster instead of living free is something Orihime would never understand.

"So what are you going to do once you get your powers back? Will you go back to Kurosaki-san?"

Orihime looks at Tatsuki thoughtfully. She shakes her head after a few moments. "I can't go back to him. He wouldn't accept me. Not after how I left him. "She gives a half-hearted smile although she does not feel like smiling in the least.

Every single moment of every single day she misses Ichigo. There isn't anything that she wouldn't do, that she wouldn't give to be able to go back to him and have everything be just the way it was. What she wouldn't do to see his smile…to feel him hold her…to taste him…

A tear, unbidden, slides down her face. She looks down, not bothering to wipe the tear from her face. She bites down hard on her trembling lips as another tear falls.

"I miss him. I miss him so much Tatsuki, it hurts. There's a literal pain in my chest that hurts every time I think of him." She sniffles. "Which is all the time. He's constantly on my mind, and I just want to…to talk to him. Ask him how his day is going, just…anything. Anything to let him know that I'm here and that I care about him and that I love him…I still love him and I will always love him." She sniffles some more, tears falling down her face in an uneven stream. "I just want to apologize for all the pain and the suffering that I've caused him. I'm sorry for ever leaving him in the first place. I just want to go back to my home…with him…because I am so miserable without him…I have never been more miserable in my entire life than I have right now."

"Orihime…"

"I've become a woman obsessed. Since we are still linked, I tune in on his emotions and thoughts as much as I can. It's basically the only thing I do in my free time. I just need to know about him. I need to know how he's doing. When I'm not watching over him, I'm living in memories of when we were together. I know that this is no way to live its just that… I just need to…"

Tatsuki comes over and embraces her. She cries into her shoulder, holding on to her tightly. This is not the first time that Orihime has broken down in front of her friend. She is certain that this will not be the last.

Tatsuki will never understand why the girl decided to come to her mother and abandoned the man that she knew the girl was crazy for. The last time they visited Vera's domain they were inseparable. Literally, they were. And it wasn't because they were afraid to leave the other alone; it was because they didn't want to. They were both one singular unit, moving in harmony and synchronization.

Tatsuki can honestly say that she's never seen the girl happier than she was with him.

She can also honestly say that she's never seen her more miserable than she is now.

Tatsuki lifts Orihime's face up and wipes her tears away with her thumbs.

"Hey now, don't cry. It's not going to solve anything. You've been here for almost a year now. If you have any hope of ever getting back to that knuckle head of yours, you're going to have to try harder and focus more. All that energy that you're wasting on checking on him and worrying and obsessing over him…you could be using that to get better. To get stronger, faster. You need to stop wasting your energy, otherwise you'll never be able to see him again."

"But even if I do, he'll want nothing to do with me."

"Hey, that's a problem for you to resolve after you leave the psychopath's lair. You need to focus on one thing at a time. Everything else will fall into place. Besides, if you've been checking on him like you say you have then you have to know that he's waiting for you to come back to him. That he's just as miserable, if not more so, with you gone. I know that and I'm not clairvoyant or connected to him in anyway. "She gives her brightest smile to the girl.

Orihime wipes her face on the back of her hands and nods. Tatsuki's words ranged true and she desperately wants to believe her. She does, because she loves him. Never once has she stopped loving him.

Not once.

She smiles at Tatsuki. "Gomenasai for making me feel better. Again. I'm always such a mess."

Tatsuki laughs. "You're my mess. Now, do you want to practice some more and set some stuff on fire?"

Orihime laughs. "You make it sound like I'm an arsonist."

"Hey, you'd be the ultimate arsonist. Do you know what those humans would do in order to be able to set things on fire with their minds?"

"I don't even know if I can do it now. I mean, I was experiencing a lot of angry emotions. And I don't like being angry. It makes me feel all yucky on the inside."

"Was it necessarily because you were feeling angry? I mean, I've been around witches and yokai literally all my life. And from what I gathered, it's not necessarily anger that fuels their power, but rather passion."

"Passion…?"

"Yes. Its often misconstrued as anger, because in most events when you feel an explosion of your power erupt, or when you see others erupt in a fit of power and pure unadulterated energy, they are angry. However, it is not always that case. When you feel strongly, and you are determined and passionate about something, you experience a surge of power and strength. "

Orihime reflects on what Tatsuki is saying. It does seem to make sense. What is anger but a passionate feeling of rage? And when she was talking to her mother she was feeling rather passionate about her convections that she will be a great mother and that the people she loves wasn't as pathetic as her mother led her to believe.

"What can it hurt to try?" Tatsuki asks her. Orihime nodded and stood. Shaking her hands and her head, she gathered her focus and calmed herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath, preparing herself.

She looked to the fire place in her room and stared at the burning embers. She wanted to make them grow bigger and brighter. She wanted to learn control. She needed to learn control. She's been away from Ichigo far too long. She's been away from home for far too long. She needed to gain control so that she could go back.

She was going to go back.

She felt the power pulsated deeply within her body, within her soul. She felt her hands tingling. She focused intensely on the fire, calling on the passion she felt earlier. Dredging up the emotions and feelings that's she's been feeling for the past year. Calling upon her feelings and her love for Ichigo.

Tatsuki watched her friend in awe as she saw her aura becoming brighter and brighter. It was beautiful and amazing all at once. She felt the heat in the room increase as the fire became brighter and hotter. Her hair began to levitate and her eyes glowed a brilliant white.

She's doing it. She's accessing her powers.

* * *

.

.

.

Ichigo awakes in a dark, unfamiliar room. His head hurts something fierce and he has to close his eyes. He moans as he palms his face. Slowly, he sits up, however the room is spinning around. His body feels faintly sore and for a few moments he can't remember why.

He hears sounds of voices and light music in the background. He turns his attention to the sound and sees a movie playing on a television screen. It's black and white. Immediately he recognizes the movie as Casablanca. He notices the movie as such because it is his father's favorite movie. He watched it at least once a week.

At one time when he was younger, Ichigo asked his father why he watched that movie so much. His father told him that it was his mother's favorite movie. She would watch it whenever she could. Sometimes even twice a day. Isshin could never fathom how someone could love a movie so much. It was a simple movie, with how much she was watching, it defeated the purpose of even watching movies. But when it came to Misaki, the only thing that Isshin did really understand about her was the fact that she loved everything and she loved deeply, and more importantly, how much she loved him and their family. Nothing else mattered. So when she was gone, he watched the movie as much as he could so that he could feel connected to her.

So, sometimes, Ichigo would watch it with him. Because he also liked feeling connected to his mother. And watching that movie was the only way he could spend time with his father without him being an asshole.

"In all the jin joints, in all the town, in all the world…she walks into mines…" Ichigo quotes the movie. It was his favorite line. To him, it sums up how he feels, how he always felt about his relationship with Orihime. Back then, before he knew her, he just loved that quote because it perfectly summed up the relationship between Rick and Ilsa. If it weren't for her coming back into his life…If it weren't for her coming into his life at all…

It's a nightmare of his. Orihime coming back to him, only to find that she's moved on with someone else and that she's needs his help in helping her newfound love.

Ichigo is certain that he could never help her save someone else life. Not if she's in love with them. He can't be Rick. He's far too selfish. He could never let her go to be with someone else. He could never tell her to chose them over him. He wouldn't even give her that option.

"So I see that you're awake." He looks to the left to see a little witch leaning against the doorframe. He's not surprised. She's been there since before he woke.

"Where's Renji?"

"He's still sleeping off the fight you guys had. It took a bit of a toll on him."

"Wake him up. We need to talk."

"I will in a little bit. But I want to talk to you first."

"What is it?" He asks her gruffly. Because to be honest, he pretty certain that he knows what she wants to talk about. He's even more certain that he's not willing to talk about it.

"How long has she been gone?"

He's taken aback by the question. Why would she ask him that? Doesn't she know? What is she getting at?

"…eight months…two and half weeks."

"Almost year I see…how long have you spent looking for her?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, my sisters and I…we've been trying to look for her, but it would appears that she's disappeared from the face of the earth. Now either she's hiding herself very well…or she's dead."

"She's not dead."

"How would you know? You haven't even been looking for her."

"Who says I haven't."

"Well you certainly do not look like a person who has."

"Rukia, I'm getting really sick, really quickly of your bullshit. My relationship with Orihime is just that. Mines. I don't need comments, questions and concerns from the peanut gallery."

"You're wrong Ichigo. You're my friend. She's my friend. Whatever concerns the both of you concerns me as well."

"Oh how could I forget. You're jealous of her and in love with me right? That's why you created the Noppera-bo to get of the competition. "

He felt himself being flung against the wall. He sees Rukia with her hand outstretched and anger in her eyes as she stares him down.

"That was a low blow Ichigo and you know it. I will allow you to get away with that because I know that you are hurting and that you're lashing out. But the next time you decided to be an asshole towards me I will insure that you will shit blood for the next month."

Ichigo struggles with his breathing, growling at her. "Since when did telling the truth constitute as me being an asshole? If you don't like hearing the ugly truth then you're a bigger bitch then you let on."

"Baka! Can't you just...rah!" she snarls at him, balling her fists. He feels his insides being twisted and suddenly he hits the ground with a thump, his face catching the side of the windowsill.

"How do you expect her to want you…to want to come back to you…if this is what she has waiting for her?" She tells him softly. She turns and she leaves him to ponder and curse at her words.

He sits up leans against the wall. Closing his eyes he allows himself to think about her. Wonder where she is and if she's eating well…if she's happy…warm…safe…

Against his will a lone tear escapes and slides down his face.

Quickly, before anyone saw his sin, he wiped away. However, it was like a dam has been unleashed and tears came by the dozen, falling down his face.

He dug the base of his palms into his face, trying to stop the tears, but he couldn't. The more he thought about her, the more the tears came he's ashamed. He's ashamed for crying for her. He's ashamed that he can't do anything about her being gone.

She's gone and there's not a damn thing he can do about it.

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Comments, questions and/or concerns?


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